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Don’t Fail At a Chance to Join This Discussion
The willingness or ability of foundations to talk about failure has been a recurring theme on this blog. We’ve had Grant Oliphant, president of the Pittsburgh Foundation, offer his thoughts in a diavlog. Frequent guest contributor Michael Remaley shared results of a scan he did that found few examples of where failure is openly discussed on foundation web sites. Most recently, Sylvia Burgos Toftness talked about how the Northwest Area Foundation went to great lengths to report on an initiative that fell short.
Meet Your Audiences Where They Are
When you want to reach new audiences, what do you do? How do you go beyond the limitations of emailing to targeted lists or even posting to your website? Tweeting can help, but what if people don’t click through the attached links?
What Happens When Grantees Have Their Say
A few years ago, when people were still using the term “Web 2.0” to describe interactive and user-generated online content, the Communications Network produced a report encouraging foundations to take the plunge. Come On In the Water’s Fine said that there was far more to be gained than what some feared would result from not being able to completely control the message.
If anyone took that finding to heart, it has to be the Heinz Endowments, which opened up a section of its Web site, In the Spotlight, over a year ago to allow grantees to post their own content, for two weeks at a time, and without advance permission from the foundation.
How Twitter Helps Hone Communication
Guest Post: Thaler Pekar
You’ve probably heard many tips for crafting a concise message, including:
Your main message should fit on the back of a business card.
Or:
Your message should fit on a flag, which you will plant firmly in the floor as you begin to speak. (So imperialist!)
How to Make the 990-PF A Better Communications Tool
While reading the Commonwealth Fund’s 2010 annual report essay by John E. Craig, Jr., executive vice president-chief operating officer, someone whose writings I enjoy because he seems to appreciate the fact that financial officers can contribute considerable knowledge to the workings and values of foundations in America, I came across a startling fact.
According to Craig, in 2008, U.S. foundations spent the equivalent of $675 million in costs associated with preparing and filing their form 990-PF tax returns.
